Archaeology Wordsmith

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Results for luster:

attribute clustering: CATEGORY: typology
DEFINITION: Any grouping method based on associations between attributes and including Spaulding's configurationist typology and factor analysis.
baluster jug: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: General term for a style of tall medieval jug used in Europe whose height is about three times its diameter.
cluster: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A group of stylistically and chronologically similar artifacts for which adequate excavation data does not exist to allow for the classification as a phase.
cluster analysis: SYNONYM: cluster sampling
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A multivariate statistical technique which assesses the similarities between units or assemblages, based on the occurrence or non-occurrence of specific artifact types or other components within them. It also involves comparing the distances between points or objects, whose dimensions are measurements or scores for a number of variables. Cluster analysis results are normally plotted as a dendrogram" a treelike representation of the distances between objects in hyperspace. Items that are closer together are deemed to be more closely related. Researchers select a case by random sampling and then include contiguous cases as part of the sample."
cluster sample: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A sample in which the sampling elements are spaces or time periods but the analytical elements are countable observations in them.
data cluster: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: Archaeological data found in association and in primary context and used to define areas and kinds of ancient activity. Such information may be divided into composite, differentiated, and simple data clusters.
differentiated data cluster: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A method of clustering data that are heterogeneous and patterned in regard to two or more activities reflective of age or sex differences; e.g., a house floor with cooking utensils and hunting weapons in primary context.
household cluster: SYNONYM: household unit
CATEGORY: term; feature
DEFINITION: A term used to describe a set of features associated with one house structure. Components would include a house, a few storage pits, graves, a rubbish area, perhaps an oven or hearth, and activity areas. It is an arbitrary archaeological unit defining artifact patterns reflecting the activities that take place around a house and assumed to belong to one household.
luster: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A gentle sheen or soft glow, esp. that of a partly reflective surface
lusterware: SYNONYM: luster pottery
CATEGORY: ceramics
DEFINITION: Pottery decorated by applying to the glaze metallic compounds which become iridescent metallic films during firing.
multi-stage cluster samples: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: Cluster samples in which a sample is all that is examined; sampling at least two levels or sub-sampling.
numerical taxonomy: SYNONYM: cluster analysis; taximetrics
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A set of mathematical procedures for grouping individual items into classes. The technique used is cluster analysis, which produces groupings of items based on their degree of similarity. There are different ways of measuring the similarity between items, and different techniques of producing clusters from such measurements. Agglomerative techniques start with the most similar items and repeatedly add new members to existing clusters as the standard of similarity is lowered; divisive methods, on the other hand, start with the entire collection to be classified and repeatedly subdivide into smaller groups on the basis of certain attributes. The results of the analyses can be shown in the form of a dendrogram, but the interpretation of the groupings produced will depend on a detailed assessment of the archaeological data itself. Numerical taxonomy is also the multivariate analysis of many measurable features (taxonomic characters) to produce a biological classification. Because of the complexity of the analysis, the use of a computer is virtually mandatory. No attempt is made, as in evolutionary taxonomy, to weight characters on the basis of their presumed roles in natural selection. For this reason, numerical taxonomy produces a classification that reflects phenetic distances i.e., degrees of similarity. Such classifications are rejected by many conventional taxonomists who feel that the relationships expressed in a classification should be strictly evolutionary. The numerical evaluation of the affinity or similarity between taxonomic units and the ordering of these units into taxa on the basis of their affinities is used often in archaeology.
object clustering: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: An approach to typology based on clusters of human artifacts that are seen as specific classificatory types.
simple data cluster: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: Clustered data that are homogeneous in that they have a single function, such as those from an obsidian tool workshop.
single-link clustering: CATEGORY: measure
DEFINITION: Adding a new member to a group on the basis of a high coefficient of similarity to only one existing member of the group.
activity area: CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: A place where a specific ancient activity was located or carried out, such as food preparation or stone toolmaking. The place usually corresponded to one or more features and associated artifacts and ecofacts. In American archaeology, the term describes the smallest observable component of a settlement site. See data cluster.
albarello: SYNONYM: plural albarelli
CATEGORY: ceramics
DEFINITION: A late medieval (15th-18th centuries) Near East, Spanish, and Italian apothecary pottery jar. It was made in the form known as majolica or with a fine tin glaze over typically blue designs imitating the forms of Arabic script. Its basic shape was cylindrical but incurved and wide-mouthed for holding, using, and shelving. They average 7 inches high (18 cm) and are free of handles, lips, and spouts. A piece of paper or parchment was tied around the rim as a cover for the jar. Drug jars from Persia, Syria, and Egypt were introduced into Italy by the 15th century and luster-decorated pots influenced by the Moors in Spain entered through Sicily. Spanish and Islamic influence is apparent in the colors used in the decoration of early 15th-century Italian albarellos, which are often blue on white. A conventional oakleaf and floral design, combining handsomely with heraldic shields or with scrollwork and an inscribed label, frequently occurs. Geometric patterns are also common. By the end of the 18th century, albarellos had yielded to other containers. Albarelli have occasionally been found in Britain and the Netherlands.
Arezzo vase: CATEGORY: ceramics
DEFINITION: Red-clay Arretine pottery of which many fine examples have been found in or near the town of Arezzo in Tuscany, an important Etruscan city. The red-lustered ware was ornamented in relief and shows evidence of Greek origin.
attribute: CATEGORY: technique; artifact
DEFINITION: A distinct, individual characteristic of an artifact that cannot be further subdivided and distinguishes it from another. An attribute is used to classify artifacts into groups and describes objects in terms of their physical traits such as color, design pattern, form, shape, size, style, surface texture, technology, and weight. Attribute analysis is a method of using these characteristics to statistically produce clusters of attributes in identifying classes of artifacts.
Bandkeramik: SYNONYM: Linearbandkeramik, LBK, Linienbandkeramik (German)
CATEGORY: ceramics; culture
DEFINITION: A pottery of the Danubian I culture, a Neolithic culture that existed over large areas of Europe north and west of the Danube River c 5th millennium BC. It consists of hemispherical bowls and globular jars, usually round-based and strongly suggesting copies of gourds. The name refers specifically to the standard incised linear decoration which was pairs of parallel lines forming spirals, meanders, chevrons, etc. There was farming of emmer wheat and barley and the keeping of domestic animals such as cattle. The most common stone tool was a polished stone adze. The people lived in large rectangular houses in medium-sized village communities or as small, dispersed clusters.
Brzesc Kujawski: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A large settlement site in central Poland of the Lengyel culture of the early 4th millennium BC. There were about 60 trapezoidal long houses, smaller areas of one or more house clusters, and a large inhumation cemetery with double graves, animal burials, and rich copper grave goods. There were four phases of occupation.
chaining: CATEGORY: typology
DEFINITION: A problem found in hierarchical clustering methods whereby items in the same group may have no attribute values in common but are still grouped together because other members of the group share attribute values with one or both of them.
Chiricahua: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: The second of three chronological stages of the Cochise culture in southern Arizona and New Mexico, with dates clustering between 4000-500 BC. The appearance of distinctive, side-notched projectile points indicates an interest in hunting though a mixed food-gathering economy is indicated by assemblages commonly including cobble manos, shallow basin grinding slabs, choppers, and scrapers. There were large base camps, storage pits, and outlying specialized-activity camps that show some permanence. There is evidence from Bat Cave in New Mexico of the cultivation of primitive maize.
dispersal method: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A method of point-pattern analysis that attempts to determine whether the patterning of items of interest can be explained by random dispersal from a given point or whether they have been clustered during dispersal.
haplotype: CATEGORY: flora; fauna
DEFINITION: A specific combination of alleles within a gene cluster.
Hispano-Moresque pottery: CATEGORY: ceramics
DEFINITION: A tin-glazed, lustrous, highly decorated earthenware made by Moorish potters in Span in the late medieval period, chiefly at Málaga in the 15th century, and in the region of Manises, near Valencia, in the 16th century. They tend to be plates and jugs with bold semi-abstract designs painted on a creamy background and with a gold luster finish. These wares were much in demand throughout Europe and, judging from finds in northern Europe, they were widely traded. The tin glaze was applied over a design usually traced in cobalt blue; after the first firing, the luster, a metallic pigment, was applied by brush over the tin glaze, and the piece was fired again. Imitation of this pottery in Italy led to the development of Italian maiolica ware.
Idojiri: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A group of about 50 Middle and Late Jomon sites in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. The sites are large clusters of substantial pit houses. The pottery has molded rim ornamentation, and there are figurines and ceremonial stone arrangements. It is thought that the inhabitants practiced plant cultivation, nut-collecting, and hunting.
Inanna: CATEGORY: deity
DEFINITION: A Sumerian deity, the goddess of love and war, storehouse and rain. She was the daughter of Nanna/Sin, sister of Enmerkar, and associated with Warka. She is equivalent to the Akkadian Ishtar. She is sometimes the daughter of the sky god An, sometimes his wife; in other myths she is the daughter of Nanna, god of the moon, or of the wind, Enlil. She is sometimes referred to as the Lady of the Date Clusters.
Inca: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: South American Indians who, at the time of the Spanish conquest in 1532, ruled an empire that extended along the Pacific coast and Andean highlands from the northern border of modern Ecuador to the Maule River in central Chile. The Inca established their capital at Cuzco (Peru) in the 12th century. They began their conquests in the early 15th century and within 100 years had gained control of an Andean population of about 12,000,000 people. These Quechua-speaking tribes' origins are uncertain. Their vast empire had a centralized organization and at its head was the ruler, 'Son of the Sun', worshipped as a god in his own lifetime. As a divine king he was above the law, and as a despotic ruler he was very much the political head of the state. Administration was in the hands of officials drawn from the Inca nobility and from the chiefs of conquered tribes. An efficient road system, along which relays of messengers could travel 250 km in a day, ensured that Cuzco was kept informed of developments all over the empire. These same roads allowed Inca forces to be quickly moved into any province which showed signs of rebellion. This centralization was both the strength and the weakness of the Inca state. The unifying force was the ruler in person, and the death of Huayna Capac precipitated a crisis. Civil war broke out when two of his sons, Huascar and Atahuallpa, disputed the succession. Atahuallpa won the war, but before he could consolidate his position he was seized and murdered by Francisco Pizarro's Spaniards in 1532. Without a leader the Inca system could not function. Most of the empire was quickly brought under Spanish control, but an independent Inca group held out in the Urubamba valley until 1572. Viracocha Inca was the creator, culture hero, and supreme deity of the Inca, but the religion embraced a pantheon of gods of nature. The most actively worshipped were the sun and, by extension, the emperor, who was considered the son of the sun. The Temple of the Sun, built at the pre-Incan ceremonial center of Pachacamac suggests some incorporation of earlier religions. Archaeologically, the Inca culture is characterized by fine quality stone masonry, agricultural terraces, mass-produced and standardized pottery forms (aryballus), and metal objects. The considerable architectural skill of the Inca is reflected in Cyclopean masonry, although many buildings were constructed using rectangular dressed stone blocks as well as adobe. The basic dwelling-unit was a cluster of single rooms arranged around a rectangular courtyard and was most often enclosed by a wall. Writing was unknown, but the quipu was used for keeping records. Agriculture was based on plant foods, especially potato, manioc, quinoa, and maize. Domesticated animals included dog, llama, cava (guinea pig), and alpaca. Fine textiles were woven using a simple backstrap loom. The civilization was the largest and most powerful political unit in all the prehistoric America. It has been argued that the whole of Inca achievement relied heavily on a variety of political, societal and religious infrastructures already in place before their ascendancy.
jasper: CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: A high-quality chert or agate often used as raw material for the manufacture of stone tools. It is an opaque, fine-grained or dense variety of the silica mineral that is mainly brick red to brownish red. Jasper has long been used for jewelry and ornamentation, has a dull luster but takes a fine polish. Its hardness and other physical properties are those of quartz.
K-means technique: CATEGORY: typology
DEFINITION: A clustering method whereby the multi-dimensional space of dissimilarities is partitioned into an optimal number of groups.
L'Anse aux Meadows: SYNONYM: L'Anse-aux-Meadow
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A site on Epaves Bay, northern Newfoundland, Canada, with evidence of a Viking settlement founded in the late 10th century AD. There are remains of Scandinavian-style turf-built houses and other artifacts of European origin: iron rivets, slag, a ring-headed bronze pin, and a soapstone spindle whorl. Supporting documents, such as Groen-lendingabok, Erik's Saga, and the map of Sigurthur Stefansson, also indicate that around 1000, Norse sailors journeyed to a land west of Greenland, which they called Vinland. The site has produced a series of radiocarbon dates which cluster around 1000 AD.
locality: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A large site composed of two or more clusters of material remains; a variable area not larger than the space that might be occupied by a single community or local group and small enough to permit the working assumption of complete cultural homogeneity at any given time.
Mitla: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A site in central Oaxaca, Mexico, which was first occupied in the centuries before 800 BC, after which it became an outpost of Monte Albán civilization. It is generally believed that Mitla (Nahuatl: Place of the Dead) was established as a sacred burial site long before the Christian Era, probably by the Zapotecs, whose influence was predominant until about 900 AD. Between 900-1500, the Mixtecs moved down from northern Oaxaca and took possession of Mitla; it is the Mixtec influence that is most pronounced on the existing ruins. Its ceramics date from Monte Alban I (900-300 BC), but there is no structural evidence until Monte Albán III (200-1521 AD). After the parent site was abandoned in the 8th-10th centuries AD, a fortification wall was built at Mitla and pyramids were constructed there. The town became an important religious center and there are five clusters of columned, flat-roofed palace structures (Grupo de las Columnas (Columns Group), Grupo de las Iglesias (Churches Group), Grupo del Arroyo (Arroyo Group), Grupo de los Adobes (Adobe Group), and Grupo del Sur (Southern Group)). Major construction in the Early Post-Classic coincides with the abandonment of Monte Alban, suggesting that it became a new locus for the Zapotec. At the time of the Spanish Conquest, Mitla was said to be the residence of the Zapotec high priest. Certain frescoes were painted in pure Mixtec style, although Mitla itself may have remained under Zapotec control.
multivariate: SYNONYM: multivariate explanation, multivariate analysis, multivariate techniques
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: Having or involving a number of independent mathematical or statistical variables. In reference to analysis or explanation, it is a perspective that views several interacting variables simultaneously rather than focusing on one variate at a time, as in univariate analysis. This approach is used to generate explanations of culture change, e.g. the origin of the state, which, in contrast to monocausal approaches, stresses the interaction of several factors operating simultaneously. Some multivariate techniques (e.g. cluster analysis and discriminant analysis) analyze the distribution of the items under study within hyperspace, reporting their results as a table or plot. Other techniques (e.g. principal components, discriminant functions, multidimensional scaling) mathematically reduce the number of dimensions of the space. Typically, a multidiminesional distribution may be reduced to two or three dimensions, after which it may be plotted or analyzed by conventional statistics.
Nakbe: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Urban center of the Maya in the dense tropical forest of northern Guatemala, 13 km away from El Mirador, to which it was joined by a causeway. It was one of the earliest ceremonial centers of the Maya. There are two main clusters of platforms and mounds, including a 50 meter high pyramid. Thought to have been typical of the architecture of the period known as the Late Formative, or Late Pre-classic (300 BC-AD 100), the huge stone pyramids, temples, and other relatively tall buildings characteristic of the construction at Nakbe have been carbon-dated to 600-400 BC (corresponding to the Middle Formative). Although remains have been unearthed from almost every period of Mayan culture at Nakbe, it was not important after the beginning of the Late Formative period.
nearest-neighbor analysis: SYNONYM: nearest-neighbor statistic
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A method of analyzing the extent to which two-dimensionally located points are randomly distributed; a measure of the relationship between a cluster of points in a pattern based on the expected value and the observed value. The statistic equals observed value divided by expected value. This method of analyzing the degree of dispersion in a distribution pattern was first developed by plant ecologists studying the concentration of certain species. A nearest-neighbor index (usually denoted by the symbol R), is calculated from the ratio of the average observed distance from each point in the pattern to its nearest neighbor, to the average distance expected if the pattern were randomly distributed, which depends solely on the density of the pattern being studied. The index R varies from 0.00 for a totally clustered pattern through 1.00 for a random distribution to a maximum of 2.15 for a completely regularly spaced pattern. The index is influenced by the size of the study area chosen; it is therefore essential to select a relevant framework for the distribution being studied. With any boundary, however, it is possible for the index to be distorted by the 'boundary effect' to give a figure closer to the maximum than would be justified; this arises because the nearest neighbors of points near to the boundary may in fact lie beyond the boundary and hence not be properly counted, thus increasing the figure for the observed mean distance. It is also essential that the points in the pattern being analyzed are of the same date and similar function, and that the pattern should be complete. The index R describes only a part of the total pattern and can serve as a useful basis for asking more detailed questions about the factors that underlie the observed pattern. The technique has been useful to archaeologists studying the distribution of sites over a landscape and their relation to each other.
non-site archaeology: SYNONYM: off-site archaeology; landscape archaeology
CATEGORY: branch
DEFINITION: The recovery and analysis of unclustered physical remains produced by human activities. Non-site archaeology generally concentrates on remains recovered in a surface or plow zone context. It is an approach, especially in archaeological survey, where the unit of analysis is the artifact rather than the site. Practitioners document the distribution of humanly-modified materials across the landscape.
nonarbitrary sample unit: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A subdivision of the data universe with cultural relevance, such as sample units defined by data clusters in remains of rooms or houses.
nonsite archaeology: SYNONYM: non-site archaeology; off-site archaeology; landscape archaeology
CATEGORY: branch
DEFINITION: The recovery and analysis of unclustered physical remains produced by human activities. Non-site archaeology generally concentrates on remains recovered in a surface or plow zone context. It is an approach, especially in archaeological survey, where the unit of analysis is the artifact rather than the site. Practitioners document the distribution of humanly-modified materials across the landscape.
off-site archaeology: SYNONYM: non-site archaeology, landscape archaeology
CATEGORY: branch; technique
DEFINITION: The recovery and analysis of unclustered physical remains produced by human activities. Non-site archaeology generally concentrates on remains recovered in a surface or plow zone context. It is an approach, especially in archaeological survey, where the unit of analysis is the artifact rather than the site. Practitioners document the distribution of humanly-modified materials across the landscape.
off-site data: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: Unclustered physical remains produced by human activities; evidence from a range of information, including scatters of artifacts and features such as plowmarks and field boundaries. This data can provide important evidence about human exploitation of the environment.
Omari, el-: SYNONYM: Omari
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A site south of Cairo, Egypt, on the east of the Nile Delta, showing primitive Neolithic material closely comparable to that from Merimde. This phase of the Lower Egyptian Predynastic period, consisting of several Predynastic settlements and cemeteries clustered around the Wadi Hof, was transitional between the Merimde and Maadi.
paho mark: CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: A small hole in the floor of a structure that is interpreted as an impression left by the planting of a prayer stick. Paho marks are usually conical, 1-2 cm in diameter and 2-5 cm deep, often occur in clusters, and are often filled with sand. They are often associated with a sipapu or rectangular central pit.
Panaramitee style: SYNONYM: Panaramitee art
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: An art style found in many parts of Australia involving rock engravings featuring circles and tridents (possibly kangaroo and emu tracks) and dating to Pleistocene times. It is found at Panaramitee in the Flinder Ranges, South Australia, and arid regions in south Australia, New South Wales, north Queensland, and the Northern Territory; isolated examples have also been found in northern Tasmania and near Sydney. Engravings were found at Ingaladdi dating to 5000-7000 bp, at Early Man Shelter c 13,000 bp, and Karolta c 30,000 years old. The style involves the pecking on rock surfaces by indirect percussion of clusters of hundreds of small figures, usually about 10 cm tall, in outline or infilled forms. The designs include dots, spirals, mazes, and crescents, human footprints, lizards, radiating lines and tectiforms (roof shapes). The art is thought to be of considerable antiquity on the basis of still inconclusive evidence of patination, distribution in both Australia and Tasmania, and the absence of stone tool types belonging to the post-2000 BC Australian Small Tool Tradition.
paradigm: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A conceptual framework for a scientific discipline; a set of assumptions, methodologies, and objectives that determine a scientific investigation. It is a strategy for integrating a research method, theory, and goals. Examples in archaeology are postprocessual archaeology, behavioral archaeology, and culture history. A paradigmatic classification is one based on an equal weighting of attributes, so that each class is defined by a cluster of unique attributes and is not dependent on the order in which the attributes were defined.
patina: SYNONYM: patination
CATEGORY: artifact; geology
DEFINITION: The outermost layer of an artifact, which may differ in color, texture, luster, or substance from the inner part of the artifact due to physical, biological, or chemical alteration due to environmental conditions. The term also refers to any thin, colored film or layer formed on the surface of flint or other rock as a result of alkaline conditions. It is a porous bluish or white weathering; possibly becoming stained with brown or yellow due to contacts with iron compounds in percolating water. Similarly, the green patina on bronze objects is a product of corrosion. The amount of patination is sometimes used as a very rough indication of age; the longer the exposure the deeper is the patination.
peristyle: SYNONYM: peristyle court
CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: The screen of pillars surrounding a temple, forming colonnades along its sides. These colonnades are found on the exterior of buildings, as in the classical Greek temple, and also within the courtyard of a Hellenistic or Roman house. A peristyle court is a court with a roof around the sides supported by rows of columns and an open space in the center. The peristyle of the domus, typified by that of the House of the Vettii at Pompeii, contained the private living quarters of the family; clustered around its colonnaded court were the oecus (reception room), cubiculai (bedrooms), alae (recesses for private talk), and tricliniai (dining rooms)
pitchstone: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Any of various volcanic glasses distinguished by their dull pitchlike luster
Po Nagar: SYNONYM: Nha Trang
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Literally, Lady of the City), a well-preserved cluster of four Cham shrines dedicated to Shiva and erected or rebuilt between the 7th-12th centuries. It was a site during the kingdom of Champa, on the coast of southern Vietnam. It is also known for its Sanskrit inscriptions recording the late 8th-century raids by seamen from Java who destroyed several temples.
radiocarbon dating: SYNONYM: radioactive carbon dating, radiocarbon age determination, carbon-14 dating; radiochronometry; RC
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: An absolute radiometric dating technique for determining the age of carbon-bearing minerals, including wood and plant remains, charcoal, bone, peat, and calcium carbonate shell back to about 50,000 bp. The technique is based on measuring the loss of radiocarbon (carbon-14) that begins disintegration at death at a known rate. It is one of the best-known chronometric dating techniques and the most important in archaeology presently. It can be used for the dating organic material up to 75,000 years old. It is based on the theory of Willard F. Libby (1947); his radioactive-carbon dating provided an extremely valuable tool for archaeologists, anthropologists, and earth scientists. When organic matter dies it ceases to exchange its carbon, as carbon dioxide, with the atmosphere, so its C14 dwindles by decay and is not replenished. Determination of the radioactivity of carbon from a sample will reveal the proportion of C14 to C12, and this will in turn, through the known rate of decay of C14, give the age of, or more accurately the time elapsed since the death of, the sample. Two things in the method have to be allowed for: first, the 'date' given is never exact. The +/- figure, which should always be quoted, is a statistical one, meaning that there is a 2 to 1 chance that the correct date lies within that bracket. Secondly, the rate of decay of C14 is based in all published examples on a half-life of 5730 +/- 40 years (after 5730 years, one half of the C14 will have disintegrated, after another 5730 years one half of the remainder, and so on). Correction tables are used to correct 'raw' radiocarbon dates (quoted as years ad or BC) into true dates (AD or BC). The method yields reliable dates back to about 50,000 bp and under some conditions to about 75,000 bp. One of the basic assumptions of the technique is that the amount of radiocarbon in the atmosphere has remained constant through time. It has now been established, with the dendrochronological sequence for the bristlecone pine, that the C14 concentration has fluctuated. The reasons for the fluctuation are not yet fully understood. The calibration of radiocarbon dates is therefore necessary in order to achieve an approximate date in calendar years. Dates quoted in radiocarbon years, before calibration, are written BC or bp (before present), as opposed to calibrated dates, written BC or BP. The original half-life for radiocarbon of 5,568 ? 30 years has been revised to 5,730 ? 40 years, though dates are normally published according to the old half-life in order to avoid confusion (the date can be adjusted for the new half-life by multiplying the old date by 1.029). All radiocarbon dates are quoted with a standard deviation. Ideally, a series of dates should be obtained for any deposit as a series may cluster around a central point. New refinements continue to improve the technique's accuracy as well as extend the range of dates which can be achieved. A previous limit of 50,000 years on the age of material which could be dated, set by the limits on the ability of the proportional counter used to record beta particle emissions, has been extended to 70,000 years by the use of isotopic enrichment, the artificial enrichment of the C14 to C12 ratio.
reworking: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Flaking applied to a broken or dulled tool so as to reclaim it for additional use. Sometimes called Lateral Rejuvenation, reworking was the characteristic means by which an implement was resharpened. Alternate and bifacial beveling, serration, and other diagnostic features of blade renewal are very important to age determination as well as for the purpose of assembling attribute clusters for typological analysis. Typically reworked blades or points have a different outline than their former pristine outline. Reworking of lithic objects was employed by early people due to the general lack of high quality lithic materials.
Salinas La Blanca: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Early Formative village site on the left bank of the Narajo River near Ocos, Guatemala. The principal features of the site are two low house-mounds constructed of clay and household debris and dating to 1000-850 BC. A typical household cluster consisted of the house and outdoor hearth, a number of 'borrow pits' (dug to obtain clay) and a sherd-and-shell midden. Large numbers of primitive corn cobs indicate some farming.
San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan / San Lorenzo: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The oldest-known Olmec center, located in Veracruz, Mexico, and revealing information on Olmec origins. It was a large nucleated village flourishing during the Early Formative. The first phase of occupation (Ojochi, c 1800-1650 BC) left no architectural traces, but during the next period (Bajío, 1650-1550 BC) a start was made on the artificial plateau with lateral ridges forming the base of most subsequent structures. The Chicharras phase (1550-1450 BC) foreshadows true Olmec in its pottery, figurines, and perhaps also in stone-carving. The San Lorenzo phase (1450-1100 BC) marks the Olmec climax at the site, whose layout then resembled that of La Venta. The principal features of the site are a large platform mound and a cluster of smaller mounds surrounding what may be the earliest ball court in Mesoamerica; more than 200 house mounds are clustered around these central features. A system of carved stone drains underlying the site is a unique structural feature. Around 900 BC, the stone monuments were mutilated and buried upon the center's collapse. La Venta then came to power. The monuments weighed as much as 44 tons and were carved from basalt from the Cerro Cintepec, a volcanic flow in the Tuxtla Mountains about 50 air miles to the northwest. It is believed that the stones were somehow dragged down to the nearest navigable stream and from there transported on rafts up the Coatzacoalcos River to the San Lorenzo area. The amount of labor involved must have been enormous, indicating a complex social system to ensure the task's completion. Most striking are the colossal heads human portraits on a stupendous scale, the largest of which is 9 feet high. After a short hiatus, the site was reoccupied by a group whose culture still shows late Olmec affinities (Palangana phase, 800-450 BC), but was again abandoned until 900 AD when it was settled by early post-Classic (Villa Alta) people who used plumbate and fine orange pottery. The collapse of San Lorenzo c 1150/1100 BC was abrupt and violent. The population was forced to do its agricultural work well outside the site, which may have contributed to the center's collapse.
scatter diagram: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A visual way of presenting data which might otherwise be offered in numerical form. It consists of the plotting of units as dots against an X and a Y axis representing two attributes, so that relationships between attributes as well as relationships between units may be shown. When clustering of dots into different groups occurs, it may suggest the presence of different classes. It is also possible to see whether one attribute co-varies with another, seen by the grouping of the dots around the line from bottom left to top right of the diagram.
Seibal: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A Lowland Maya center located in south-central Petén, Guatemala. The site was occupied as early as 800 BC, expanded in size and importance in Preclassic period, and was at its height in the Late Classic, 770-900 AD, while rest of Maya civilization was declining. Archaeologists think that influx of non-Classic Maya (Putun) from the Gulf Coast prompted its development at that time. The site is dominated by three groups of ceremonial buildings, built around plazas and connected by causeways. Most of the population lived in small house clusters around these nuclei. Seibal was abandoned by 950, probably as part of the general decline of the Classic Petén centers.
site locality: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A large geographic area, such as a gorge or valley, in which many separate sites are clustered.
Skara Brae: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Neolithic village of stone-built houses in Orkney, Scotland, preserved beneath a sand dune with occupation c 3100-2500 BC. In its latest phase the village consisted of six or seven houses and a workshop hut, all clustered together and linked by paved alleyways. The associated pottery was of Grooved Ware type. Furniture included beds, hearths, tables, dressers and cupboards.
standard deviation: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The natural statistical distribution of a series of measurements around an arithmetic mean value; a measure of the scatter (variability, dispersion, spread) about the mean in a distribution. In archaeology, it is used in association with chronometric dating techniques like radiocarbon dating, where each measurement is a calculation of date for the sample, and the final date given, e.g. 2,400 ? 200, is a statistical description of a 'real' date. The standard deviation (?) as quoted means that there is a 66% chance of the real date lying within that range (for the above example, between 2,600-2,200). For greater probability, the date must be taken to two standard deviations (there is a 95% certainty that the date lies between 2,800-2,000) or three standard deviations (99% certainty). A single date with a relatively large error is generally of less use than a series of dates from the same context, which may show a clustering around a central date.
stratified random sampling: SYNONYM: stratified sampling; stratified sample
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A probabilistic sampling technique used to cluster and isolate sample units when regular spacing is inappropriate for cultural reasons. The region or site is divided into natural zones or strata, such as cultivated land and forest, and units are then chosen by a random-number procedure to give each zone a number of squares proportional to its area, thus overcoming the inherent bias in simple random sampling. In stratified sampling, the population is divided into classes and simple random samples are drawn from each class.
Sulphur Spring: SYNONYM: Sulphur Springs
CATEGORY: culture; site
DEFINITION: The earliest of three stages of the Cochise culture, named for a cluster of sites in southeast Arizona, and dating from 6000 / 7000 BC to c 4000 BC. Evidence of plant food processing (cobble manos) together with split and burnt faunal remains, imply an Archaic lifestyle, although there are almost no projectile points, blades, or knives. Besides milling stones, it is characterized by various scrapers. The remains of food animals indicate that some hunting was done.
Swasey: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: The earliest known stage of lowland Maya culture, dated 2500-1300 BC. Most Swasey sites cluster in north Belize. The site at Cuello, a village of hunters and farmers, provides reasonably complete information. Maize, squash, root crops, and cacao were grown and timber structures were built on low platform foundations plastered with stucco. The dead were buried with imported seashells and jadeite beads. Swasey pottery developed into the Mamon style of the Maya Middle Pre-Classic period.
time-marker or time marker: SYNONYM: horizon marker
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A temporally significant class of artifacts defined by a consistent clustering of attributes.
tribe: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: An egalitarian society generally comprised of a centrally organized group of bands. Its kinship is more complex than that of the band, and its economy is often agricultural rather than foraging, though they also include nomadic pastoral groups whose economy is based on exploitation of livestock. Individual communities tend to be integrated into the larger society through kinship ties. Political dominance gained through achieved leadership. Tribes may be aggregated into higher-order clusters, called nations.
type: CATEGORY: technique; term
DEFINITION: A classification of artifacts based on the shared attributes of groups of artifacts or features, such as pottery types, projectile point types, or house types. The class is defined by a consistent clustering of attributes. In pottery, it is part of a standardized taxonomic classification based on stylistic attributes: modes and varieties (minimal units); types, groups, complexes, and spheres (maximal units).
urbanization: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The clustering of large numbers of people into cities, though there is no clear-cut line between large towns and cities, both being characterized by very high population densities. In southeast Europe, urbanization seems to have begun by 4000 BC, in Greece leading eventually to growth of Mycenaean civilization, in Italy (early 1st millennium BC) to Etruscan civilization, etc. Many civilizations, e.g. the Maya, with large ceremonial centers, have wrongly been called urban"."
Yang Shao: SYNONYM: Yang-shao, Yangshao
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: The most important Neolithic culture of China, distributed along the middle course of the Yellow River in north-central China and dated to c 5000-2700 BC. Large open settlements of circular or rectangular houses slightly sunk into the ground cluster along the loess river terraces. It is distinguished by millet agriculture, coarse and painted pottery, sedentary villages, and clans. Some marks on the pottery are thought to be the beginnings of writing; pottery was handmade, painted in black and red on a yellowish slip. At first, the designs were zoomorphic, then later became abstract, geometric, or curvilinear. Coarser red and grey wares were also common.
Zengövárkony: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Large Neolithic settlement and cemetery of the Lengyel culture in Hungary, dated to the 4th millennium BC. The site consists of clusters of graves interspersed with areas of settlement debris, a pattern is consistent with family groups buried close to where they lived. Over 360 graves are known, mainly crouched inhumations, including 47 with preserved skeletal material. The grave goods include copper and fine stone artifacts.

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